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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=severiansola@hotmail.com
href="mailto:severiansola@hotmail.com">Lee Berman</A> </DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV><BR>> The Ship may be big enough and all that but it is an unatural and
unnecessary <BR>> addition to the story since a large body to block the sun
already exists. When the <BR>> the white fountain arrives, it causes major
cataclysms on Urth via "waves of <BR>> gravitation". Adding a moon-sized Ship
to Urth's vicinity might cause similar <BR>> problems that locking the
existing moon in place for a few extra hours wouldn't. <BR></DIV>
<DIV>I would say the opposite: stopping the Moon in its orbit would be a
cataclysmic event. And while the Ship is large, it is indicated to be
about the size of an island ruled by a minor lord, which seems much smaller than
the Moon.</DIV>
<DIV><BR>> Further, Wolfe spends an inordinate amount of time adding a story
component in <BR>> which Tzadkiel's ship parks outside the solar system and
sends in a small tender<BR>> to drop Severian off on Urth. Maybe he/she is
just trying to avoid the ship being <BR>> detected by Typhon but that
seems pretty weak to me. As mentioned before, FB&O do <BR>> not appear on
Urth at this time. They come later.</DIV>
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<DIV>On the other hand, Wolfe mentions on two separate occasions that the Ship
sometimes comes much closer in...</DIV>
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<DIV>- Gerry Quinn</DIV>
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